The Strength of a Sparrow, based on a true story
Tim -Dr. Hope- Anders
Alpine Publishing

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The compelling tale on the pages of „„The Strength of a Sparrow“, based on a true story“ opens in a dimly bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where a lovely young woman sat across from a slender man in his thirties. It was Rao’s Italian Restaurant where the aroma of marinara sauce filled the air. It was their first meeting, followed by an evening filled with good food, interesting conversation and Hughie Hewitt was completely infatuated.

„The Strength of a Sparrow“ a fictionalized tale based on the true story centered on the writers parents, she, Bouvette –Boo- Sherwood, a successful producer and actress of New York Broadway, and Hughie Hewitt, who does not reveal that he is a Catholic priest who is one step from being an alcoholic.

When Hughie realizes he has fallen in love with Boo he asks his childhood chum for advice. Vicente Rao is more than a little taken aback but does offer the simple notion that Hughie must choose, he simply cannot continue as a priest AND have a sweetheart. It is one or the other.

The narrative is driven by the energy of Bouvette Sherwood, who is a successful New York Broadway producer and actress. As their romance develops into a tangle of anticipation, stratagem, betrayal, and romance Bouvette naively offers to become a Catholic so that the pair can marry. She is non Catholic and has no idea that priests not only do not marry; they do not have children.

The lives of Hughie, Boo, their children, Roxanne and Tim, as well as Boo’s staunch ally, and Vincente Rao are all intertwined, set down and proffered for the reader to examine. Separation, Bellevue Hospital, a foster home, privation, mistreatment and worse, jail, a private detective, the wrath of a Monsignor bent on becoming a Bishop and will let nothing stand in his way, not a wayward priest, not two small children, not a woman he brands as Jezebel, and a final goodbye all move the narrative to a compelling end.

Writer Anders’ mother often thought many years that she might write a book about her life in New York both that as a Broadway actress, and how she had fallen in love with a married man, a man who was married to his church, loved her, but could never leave his first love.

As a teen Anders and his mother discussed her life on Broadway and her relationship with his father. Anders praises his mother’s buoyant, never give up mind-set as the motivation for his writing his Life Lessons series of children’s books. Following his mother’s death Anders determined he would write her story.

„The Strength of a Sparrow“ is both a love story and a tale of the force held over priests by the Catholic Church during the 1940s. Somehow the notion that a priest might want marriage and a family was viewed as something so irrational the church leadership would do nearly anything to prevent it taking place.

Anders’ account is based on the stories told to him by his mother filled in with a bit of romanticism and hope that may or may not have been part of the real story. The writer’s descriptive account of the setting is compelling, draws the reader in to the setting, the relationship between Boo and Hughie is believable, albeit from the outset it is one that the reader knows cannot have a happy ever after type ending.

Writer Anders is a skilled author, presents his tale well, his characters are well fleshed and settings are clearly delineated. Dialogue is at times gritty, some sexuality included may turn away some writers.

Mesmeric and easily read „The Strength of a Sparrow“ is presented as a tribute by a son for the love and relationship he wishes his parents had. We cannot help but commiserate with both Boo and Hughie to some degree, although I am troubled today that the leadership of the church during the 1940s seems to be far more distressed that the idea a priest might want marriage and family; viewing it as far more horrific than the child abuse which we now know was being carried out by members of the clergy. Easily read, hard to read. Happy to recommend for those who enjoy slice of life type narratives.